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Census triggers changes in representation

Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News
Published 12:51 p.m. MT May 25, 2017

New software will allow real-time check of homes where census report not returned

Lincoln County Clerk Rhonda Burrows warned that county commissioners must be ready to fight for fair representation of the county in the state legislature after new census date is released.(Photo: Courtesy/ Lincoln County)

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County Clerk says the commission redistricting can be handled in-house

Lincoln County commissioners should be ready to fight for state representation when the redistricting debate begins after 2020 census data is released, the county clerk warned recently.

“We lost a state representative in the last redistricting,” Clerk Rhonda Burrows said. The county now shares one of its senators with five other counties. “I think it’s important for the county to pursue,” she said.

County Planning Director Curt Temple told commissioners at their monthly meeting in May that two weeks earlier he and another staff member attended a session about the census. The approach this time will be different, he said, and a large census headquarters is being opened in Dallas, Texas. The search for employees already is underway, he said.

A different software will be used in identifying parcels that will allow supervisors to direct employees in real time to specific homes, Temple said.

“Their goal is to go to every house, if (the occupant) does not return the online reporting,” he said. “I explained to them that in our county, there are a lot of empty houses and nightly rental houses, that a lot of our residents live in the county 10 months out of year, but still claim Texas and count themselves there.

“They said they would look into that and see where people live and how long. I will believe that when I see it.”

Commissioner Tom Stewart said he went through two census and redistricting events when he was county manager.

“Where they reside on April 1, 2020 is the issue,” he said. “I see a lot of packets hanging on doors that people never answered.”

Temple said all census data must be submitted by Dec. 31, 2020.

“This is their only job in 10 years,” he said. “They are testing a lot of new software and are asking municipal partners to learn the software. We will go to more workshops. They wanted our 911 (system of rural) addresses to see how they match up.”

Burrows pointed out that the census “triggers the redistricting process.” It’s the duty of the commission to deal with the redistricting issues, she said.

“It looks like we have a population loss and I don’t know how that will shape up,” Burrows said. “I think we can do (the county commission redistricting) in-house, depending on the shift. I believe the county needs to be more proactive in state redistricting, because of our senate district. It’s complex.”

A district must be composed of contiguous area of communities of like interest, Burrows said.